


Our Little Shooting Star

by ladyheroines



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Adtional warning: Cuteness, Arbaby AU, Child AU, Gen, M/M, Parents AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-21
Updated: 2013-11-21
Packaged: 2018-01-02 07:25:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1054079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyheroines/pseuds/ladyheroines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of broadcasts from Night Vale Radio, all revolving around the mysterious appearance of a quite unique child, which Cecil and Carlos quickly adopt together. (AKA the AU where Cecil and Carlos stumble across a small, mostly human child and decide to adopt her. Titled the Arbaby AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Little Shooting Star

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eleven-arrows](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=eleven-arrows).



> Me and Errow(eleven-arrows.tumblr.com) came up with this AU during a car ride together a few months ago, so co-credit to the lovely bestie. And yes, we did decide that Carlos's last name is Scientist.  
> There may be more to come in this AU, at some point. Hopefully. I think it's a wonderful AU, so I really want to write more at some point.

Listeners, if I may get personal for a moment, I’d like to talk about what happened on my date with Carlos last night. As many of you know, it was our anniversary, so we went out to the parking lot behind the Arby’s and sat on the hood of the car. It was pleasant, and quiet, and in one of the lulls in the soft, murmured conversation, we could hear a small noise in the quiet night.

It sounded like a low keening, faint and adorable. Carlos noticed it at the same second as I did, so we both, wordlessly, went to investigate. Mostly because, well, that sound was just so cute.

Anyway, a few feet away from our car, we found a small cardboard box on the ground that appeared to be producing the noise. When we peeked inside, cautious and armed with the letter opener that Carlos carries everywhere with him - you know, just in case - we found one of the last things we expected.

A child! A young girl! She couldn’t be older than three, and when we peered down at her she looked up at us with wide, slender eyes. She was bundled up in a thick blanket, her cheeks tinted pink despite most of her covered to protect against the coldness of the desert after sundown, and she was probably the most precious thing ever.

I don’t want to wander off topic for to long, as station mangement have warned what will happen if I continue to do that to often, but long story short, me and Carlos ended up taking her home with us to our apartment, as she didn’t seem to have been trained to speak very well and couldn’t tell us where she came from. After we got her buckled into the backseat - remember to buckle your kids, parents, that is very important - she started to smile a little and seemed very pleased.

I am telling you all of this as to request that if any of you have information on a missing little girl, approximately three years old, with wild brown-black hair, that you send it to me right away, as she does not appear to have memories - or at least, want to talk about memories - previous to us stumbling upon her in the car lot.

She is a sweet child, currently sitting happily on my feet and tying my shoelaces into knots that resemble butterfly wings, and she seems to become upset if she is not allowed the chance to howl at the moon at midnight. I am sure that such a nice young girl is missed dearly by any form of parents she may have, so if you know anything about her family, please send word. Thank you, Night Vale. And now, the Weather.

\---------------

Now, Listeners, I am going to take a break from this breaking story about Hiram Mcdaniels, by talking to you about my personal life, for a moment.

Many of you have asked about the nice little girl we found out back of the Arby’s. She is well, currently staying with Carlos in his lab while I do my civic duty as a radio reporter.

Now, while many of you asked about her, nobody had any information about her past. This caused Carlos to worry a lot for about a week or so as to what we should do with her, but not me.

I knew.

For, this darling little girl, she didn’t come from anywhere. Not before the Arby’s, anyway. Me and Carlos were lying on that still blazingly hot, yet to cool from the earlier heat of the sun, metal hood of the car, talking about our future, together, as a family, and watching the colourful lights above the Arby’s.

And the lights above the Arby’s heard.

I cannot explain it, Listeners. Nor, how I know it so clearly, but this little girl was meant for us. Me and Carlos. To raise.

This instinctual knowledge, and the fact that there isn’t an orphanage in Night Vale - ever since the last one burned down in the 1940s do to an over-exuberant fire ant child - has led to my and Carlos’s decision to adopt her raise her as our own.

Sure, it will be an undertaking, but we’ve both always wanted a family, and why pass up this perfect opportunity? Besides, it’s not like she has anywhere else to go, and Carlos has already taught her how to recite most of the periodic table.

We’ve named her, even! When it came down to something to call her, Carlos, with his perfect, slightly shy, blush in place, suggested that he had always admired Amelia Earhart and thought she had a beautiful name. Now, I don’t know about you, but I immediately agreed with him! So, I quickly answered that, yes, Earhart was a beautiful name. She seemed to respond to it immediately, too.

Carlos seemed a little confused by this, but with her clutching onto his arm, grinning up at me as I asked her what she thought of Earhart, no one could feel anything but warm and fuzzy for long. Her full name is Earhart Amelia Scientist-Baldwin. We are considering filling out official paperwork for an adoption, but it is made more difficult by the fact that she did not previously legally, or perhaps at all, exist before now. Oh well.

\---------------

Apparently, Dear Night Vale, the updates on Earhart’s progress have been to far apart for your taste. We have received multiple letters from many of you demanding to know what is going on with our precious child.

So, here it goes. She is well, still howling at the moon at midnight, every night, for some odd reason, and has taken to fluently reciting entire pages from random sections of the dictionary. I blame Carlos for that one. He thought she would speak more cleanly if she had a source to learn more words from and, well, apparently she has a stunningly photographic memory for things like that. But really, who can fault Carlos for wanting his child to learn more?

She is absolutely adorable when her little feral side comes out and she starts growling at things that move suddenly. Like, say, the fish in our aquarium!

Carlos is still stressing about that fact that she seems to only be a little more than three fourths human, and the rest of her is very decidedly wolf, but no one can argue that her fluffy dog ears and tail compliment her pretty, dark tan skin and untameable brown-black hair perfectly. Yes, the occasional howling, barking, growling, and peeing on furniture - followed immediately by a declaration of “I peed on it so it’s mine!” - can be irritating, but it’s also rather endearing, don’t you think?

_Though I have set the ground rules she can no longer stay in the studio while I work, as she clearly demonstrated her disrespect for the very hard and necessary work of community radio by starting to gnaw, bite, and rip with her long claws - that were only recently discovered - at my recording and broadcasting equipment last time she was in the studio._

Still! Not every child is perfect, and especially not from birth. Or in this case, mysterious and sudden appearance in the parking lot behind the Arby’s.

\---------------

Now, Night Vale, I have something very important I would like to bring to your attention. The Night Vale Elementary School, which I had previously thought to be an outstanding institution, just cannot seem to stay out of the business of its students and their families.

Now, I know we must be grateful for our wonderful school system here in Night Vale, but when the school suggests putting a collar with a bell on it on your child, that is just going to far! Yes, Earhart does have a tendency to sneak up and pounce on students and teachers she finds irritating, and yes, this has led to a few serious injuries, but she cannot help it! She is simply being prosecuted for being created with predator instincts and wolf-like biology!

Let me tell you, Night Vale, if the suggestion of that collar was not the last straw, the phone call I received today certainly is! The principal had the audacity to call me, just moments before I went on air, no less, and demand to know why me and Carlos have the made the decision to let Earhart get the day of the full moon off of school every month.

I replied, rolling my eyes though no one could see me at the moment, ‘Because she’s a wolf-child? Duh??’, to which they insisted, ‘Unless her attendance would cause physical, emotional, or traumatic harm to herself or the other students, she must attend!’.

Now, I do not worry about it to much. I don’t know how much harm, exactly, it would cause, but Earhart is definitely not attending school on the day of the full moon. The school board can complain all they want, but parent-student freedom is important in our society, and Earhart would prefer if her fellow classmates did not see her when her claws grow out to full length, and her body turns even more wolf-like than normal.

Honestly, Night Vale, when did we allow the school board so much power?

\---------------

I don’t know about you, parents and Listeners, but raising a child can be hard. Sometimes, you have to make tough decisions. Like, should you, or should you not, let your child play in that small pool of glowing pink goo that she is oh-so-interested in? And how often should you scold your child after she runs off to chase a bird? Now, I know that last one seem to have the obvious answer of always, but, to be fair, that bird stole her sandwich and is also Steve Carlsburg’s escaped pet. If he can’t train his own pet, maybe Earhart should teach it a lesson herself.

Also, this may be my first-time-parent ignorance, but how should you get your child to retract the claws she grows when angry? Should you be stern, demand she listens and does as you say, or should you be gentle and kind, suggesting that she put those sharp things away, as she is clearly already irritated?

Sometimes, Night Vale, it can all seem like to much. I-

Oh.

Hold on a moment.

...

Hello, Puppy, how are you doing?

“Daddy taught me how to mix chemicals so they turn different colours!”

That’s great, Earhart. I hope you weren’t bothering to Daddy to much.

...

Earhart, we’re on air. Shaking your head is not a proper response. You have to use your words so all of Night Vale knows what’s going on. One second.

Hello, Night Vale! It appears Carlos got off work early, as he is standing in the doorway of my recording booth and giving me his perfect smile, and he has brought Earhart in to see me. Luckily, we are nearing the end of our broadcast, but why not take the opportunity while it presents itself?

Puppy, do you have anything you would like to share with Night Vale?

“Did you know that Archimedes told the soldier who was about to take him to jail him to wait until he had finished the equation he was working on? The soldier got fed up with all that Sicilian sass and killed him.”

That’s great honey. We’ll call that our Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner for the day. You know how proud you make us?

“Obviously.”

Oh, come here you. There you go. Daddy loves you. Now, if you’ll behave, I can finish the show and then we can go to Grove Park, oka- Wait, don’t touch that! That will terminate the broadca-

*Schwip*


End file.
